Sarah Lewis and Theaster Gates named inaugural speakers for the Sam Gilliam Lecture series

Art and cultural historian Sarah Lewis and artist Theaster Gates are the first two speakers in the new Sam Gilliam Lecture Series at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. Made possible by the Sam Gilliam Foundation, the series will welcome prominent artists and thinkers to the university's campus in Washington to reflect on the intersections between contemporary art, academia, and public policy, and the role art plays in advancing society.

Established to honor the artistic legacy and social justice commitments of the late Washington, D.C.-based artist Sam Gilliam, the series will launch on April 9 with a lecture by Lewis, a professor at Harvard University, followed by a fireside chat with Leah Wright Rigueur, associate professor of history at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The second installment will be an event with Gates, a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and the College, on Dec. 11.

Image caption: From left: Theaster Gates and Sarah Lewis

Image credit: From left: Rankin, Stephanie Mitchell

Lewis is the founder of catalytic civic initiative Vision & Justice, which focuses on the intersection of art, visual culture, and democracy. She is the author of The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America (Harvard University Press); The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery (Simon & Schuster), and the forthcoming book Vision & Justice (One World/Random House). Lewis is the recipient of many awards, including an honorary degree from Pratt Institute, the Infinity Award, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, a Cullman Fellowship, the Freedom Scholar Award (ASALH), the Arthur Danto/ASA Prize from the American Philosophical Association, and the Photography Network Book Prize.

Gates is a multidisciplinary artist who centers his work on the idea of Black space, creating work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, Gates redeems spaces that have been left behind. Gates has exhibited and performed at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2018); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2017); Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (2016); Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013); Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy (2013); and dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012).

Lewis and Gates will explore topics frequently addressed in Gilliam's life and work, including civil rights, democracy, and the transformative power of art. In recognition of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center's mission to connect research and discovery with policymaking, these lectures will provide a platform for speakers to engage in conversation with faculty experts, students, and the community about the role of art in addressing critical social issues.

"Sarah and Theaster are both deeply engaged in the intersection of art and social justice, using their creative work and ideas to explore identity, racial equity, and the transformative power of art—values that Sam also championed," said Annie Gawlak, president of the Sam Gilliam Foundation. "They are the ideal choice for the inaugural guests of the Sam Gilliam Lecture Series, embodying Sam's visionary practice and his commitment to democratizing access to art."

The Sam Gilliam Lecture Series will be free and open to the public, as part of the wide suite of public arts programming offered by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. The series will continue in 2026, with additional speakers announced in the coming months.

"The Hopkins Bloomberg Center provides a critical platform for creative expression across a broad range of viewpoints, artistic traditions, and disciplines," said Cybele Bjorklund, executive director of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. "We thank Annie Gawlak and the Sam Gilliam Foundation for their partnership and the opportunity to honor Sam Gilliam's legacy through these important lectures by Sarah Lewis and Theaster Gates."

Gilliam (1933–2022) was a pioneering African American artist renowned not only for his great innovations in postwar American art, but also his deep commitments to issues of social justice, racial equity, and democratizing access to art. Having moved to Washington in 1962 and living there throughout his prolific career, Gilliam had a longstanding and deep relationship with the city throughout the Civil Rights Movement and other periods of extreme change in the nation.

Attendees at the lectures will be able to visit a permanent installation by Gilliam on the center's ground floor, A Lovely Blue And ! (2022), among the final works created by the artist in the months before his death. The work encapsulates Gilliam's belief in the efficacy of abstraction and the value of risk-taking. On public view in the center's pre-function space, the monumental 96" × 240" painting exemplifies Gilliam's expanded notion of the canvas as a three-dimensional object, showcasing the signature beveled-edge format he debuted in the 1960s and returned to in his later years.

The lecture series will complement existing arts programming at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center, which includes art exhibitions in the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery; music and dance performances from the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory faculty, students, and guest artists in a cutting-edge 375-seat theater; and literature, film screenings, and other humanities events that weave the arts into discussions on contemporary social and policy issues.

"The Sam Gilliam Lecture Series strengthens the already-powerful network of arts initiatives within the Hopkins Bloomberg Center and Johns Hopkins University at large," said Daniel H. Weiss, Homewood Professor of the Humanities and president emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. "Using Gilliam's important legacy as its foundation, the series will be a catalyst for multidisciplinary conversations that will complement the rich array of arts and policymaking programs hosted at the center."

Register in advance for the April 9 event featuring Sarah Lewis